In order to individually adjust the tensile stress of each winding roll during the winding operation, according to the German Patent Application P 40 12 979.9 (see corresponding copending application Ser. No. 07/778,873) the guide heads holding the winding roll, which are fastened to the winder brackets are each connected with a rotary drive. In order to set the tensile stress during winding at values which are different from the ones set for the longitudinal cutting operation, the tensile stress of the individual webs is interrupted after the longitudinal cutting and before the onset of the winding operation by guiding the web in frictional engagement over a driven cylinder. In order to produce this frictional engagement at the driven cylinder, a free-running roller which can be pressed against the driven cylinder nips the individual web, so as to insure that the contact pressure roller has enough stability even with a small diameter, it is made of separate segments, each supported to run freely and preferably with a length of 100 mm-500 mm, and which are rubber coated to avoid marks.
In wide winding machines (web width 8 m and more) it has proven to be difficult to insure that the contact pressure of the roller at the driven cylinder is uniform over the entire work width.